Recent Posts

Category: 39 CR – Women and society 2012

“It seems that religiously conservative fathers were more likely to send their daughters to school after the revolution than before. With higher female enrollment and literacy came later marriages and a steep reduction in desired family size. It is ironic that the Bush administration’s attitudes toward family planning are in many ways more fundamentalist than Iran’s.”- Common Wealth (Jeffrey D. Sachs)

The groups argue that reporting of rape often focuses on the victims – their clothes, whether they were drinking alcohol, and their relationship with the perpetrator – rather than the person who has committed a crime, perpetuating myths of a “perfect rape victim”.

Egyptian academic and columnist Amira Nowaira gave a cautious welcome to the ruling. Speaking from Alexandria she said: “Nobody had heard of the virginity tests before so it is good a court has said they cannot be used. People should be prosecuted but it’s going to be hard, even assigning blame will be difficult. Who is ultimately responsible?”

Until 25 January. The Revolution happened and with it came the Age of Chivalry. One of the most noted aspects of behaviour in the streets and squares of the 18 days of the Egyptian Revolution was the total absence of harassment. Women were suddenly free; free to walk alone, to talk to strangers, to cover or uncover, to smoke to laugh to cry to sleep. And the job of every single male present was to facilitate, to protect, to help. The Ethics of the Square, we called it.